Railway car construction



Sept. 13, 1932. A. E. SMALL RAILWAY CAR CONSTRUCTION 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Nov. 13, 1929 Sept. 13,1932. A, E, S ALL 1,877,369

RAILWAY CAR CONSTRUCTION Filed Nov. 13, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fig.7

" HAM/1 51191122211 Patented Sept. 13, 1932 UNITED STATES "PAT ENT FFI E Y? ARTHUR n. SMALL, or CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR mo UNION METAL-1 rnonuc'rs cora- PANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE RAILWAY can ooNs'rRjucrrIoN Application filed November 13,1929. serial Non 106,801.

The invention relates to railwaycars and has for its object to provide a one piece casting forming a truss or girder which when used as a side wall of a railway car carries the load to the spaced apart bolsters of the'car and When used as an end wall carries the load to the spaced apart sidewalls of the car.

When my invention is used as a truss the one piece casting comprises the upper compression member; the lower tension member; the vertical posts and the diagonal braces.

When my invention is used as a girderit comprises the top chord; the bottom chord and the vertical posts. The web of the girder may be cast integral with these parts or formedof a rolled steelplate.

These sideand end walls are usually the load retaining means as well as the load carry ing means.

By nature of their requirements railway freight train cars are out of doors substantially all of the time, therefore, are subjected to corrosive action of theelements, and while paint and other non-corrosive coatings have been appliedto thecar parts, such protection not only has been found to be expensive in time and money, but-the lading removes the coating. This is particularly true of the inside of open type cars which 'are turned upside downin unloading machines causing the load to slide across the inside surface of the car body and also whenthe dischargingload slides across the surface of a drop door and also when the long lading rests upon the lowered drop end gate of a gondola car the friction therebetween causedby the movement of the car also removes the protective coating from the end gate. Furthermore, certain ladings, such as sulphur, wet coal, which forms sulphuric acid, and saline water (in refrigerator and stock cars) cause rolled steel or iron to corrode. On accountof its increased strength rolled steel in the form of plates and bars has supplanted wood in car construction butthe corrosive action of the elements eats away the rolled steel orfiron material reducing their strength and their length of life. This applies to both the load carrying members, such as the sills, plates 0 and diaphragms and also to the lading "retaining members, such asside anden'd walls, floors, hoppers, hopper doors, etc. It has been found that cast metal, particularly'cast steel, has-more'than twice the resistance to F corrosion than rolled steel, therefore, 'one of the objects of the invention is to make the car part of cast metal, preferably cast steel, to'enable the car part to resist corrosion,an'd

furthermore, to produce a construction wherein the metal can be disposed and positioned-to accommodate*thestresses set up by the car in service. Such a cast construction necessitates a minimum amount of material for strength requirements -A nother object is to eliminate the costan'd delay in fabricating the numerous-component 7 parts of the present structuralsteel car parts.

Another object of forming the car part of cast metal is to eliminate the possibility I of loose connections which would permit rel, ativemotiOn between the component parts of the car part, as itis common knowledge that the vibration of the car in motion, dueto trains and high speeds'in present day practo work-loose and the railroads look with rough and uneven track, and steel wheels rolling on steel rails, together with-longer I favor upon any device which reduces the number of parts and joints as these are the weakpartsof the car and the moresueh weak parts are eliminated, thelonger the life of the car.

" Inthe drawings: Y. I

Fig. 1 shows a typical side girder ofa railway-can' r Fig. 2 is asection on line 2,-2 of Fig. 1:

Fig. 3 shows a typical side "trussof a rail? way car.

Fig. l is a section on line 4 of Fig.3; Fig. 5 is a skeleton stress diagram of the side truss of a car.

Figs. 6 and 7 show amodified construction;

Fig. 8 shows theinvention applied tofa boxcar. i

In the diagram shown in Fig. 5 the load is carried by the floor ofthe car to the bot tom portion of the trussconstituting, therefore, an equally distributed load. The upper chord '2, the lower chord 3, verticalpost' 4 ice V show a wooden siding or lining bolted to bers so. as to form the web of the girder.

vertical posts 21 connecting the tension and tively.

and diagonal braces 5 carry the load to the spaced apart bolsters 6 according to known principles of trusses. From the bolsters the load is carried to the trucks.

Figs. 1 and 2 show a typical panel of a girder, which consists of a one piece casting comprising a tension memberlO having lateral flanges 1112' 13 adjacent the lower margin, one of'which (13) is arranged to .supportrthe flOQI'll; of the car and to which the floor maybe attached. Thecompression member 16 is provided with lateral flanges 1718, one of which preferably overlies the side sheathing 20 of thecar. may be formed of wood and bolted to the truss, or if additional strength is required, itfmay comprise a rolled steel plate (20) riveted to the tension and compression mem- The compression members preferably have a smooth interior surface flush withthe corresponding surfaces on the tension member against which the sheathing bears. The vertical post is also provided with an outwardly projecting rib 22 which merges into the( flanges 18-1 2 of the compression and tension members, respectively, and as the post is also a stake to resist the lateral thrusts pf a plastic lading, it is preferably formed wider adjacent the, floor line (23) of the car, which is the line of maximum bending moment. This contour is shown in Flgs.

- 2 andt.

f When formed as r a: truss, diagonal braces 3 0-are provided which extend from the upper end ofone post to the lower end of an -ad .alignment with the post 21, which brackets are attached to the cross bearers ll of the car.

In Figs; 3 and tthelower or tensionmemher is extended to the bottom. o-fthe cross bearers 41 of the car. These figures also he de s- Figs. 6 and? show a modified construction used as, an end wall of a gondola car. Inthis modification the upper 50 and lower 51 members are formed of a U-section to giv,e them strengthin either tension or compression because in the end wall of a car, if the center sills 6O droop theupper member 50 is thrown into compression, whereas if. the

- sidewalls tildi'oopthe upper member 50is This sheathing thrown into tension and vice versa with the lower member 51. The posts 52 are also formed of a U-section having spaced apart flanges 53 which .merge into the inturned flanges 54-55 of the top and bottom chords respectively. Nailing strips 56 are positioned in some of these posts to which the inside wooden lining 57 is nailed.

Fig. 8 shows a modified form showing the invention used. as theside wall of a railway box orhouse car. In. this modification the one piece casting comprises an upper member'ZO, a lower member 71, vertical posts 72 and diagonal braces 7 3. The side door opening 75 virtuallyeliminates the center panel fromthe truss,.therefore, I haveincreased the depth 'of'the lower member below the side door (76). opening and also increased the strength of the upper member above the side door opening 77. to accommodate the stresses 7 usually takencare of by the center panel.

When the invention is used ina stoclrcar I. attach the usual spaced apart slots. to the integral, post, and braces.v Also I provide cleanoutj slots or openings? 9 in the lower member. V i

The accompanying drawings illustrate the preferred form of theinvention, though it is to The understoodthat theinvention is not limited to the, exact details. of construction shown and described, as. it is obvious that various modifications thereof, within the scope of the, claims, will occur'to persons skilled i'nthe art. i I i I claim; l. Avwallfor'a railway car consisting of a one piece casting forminga load sustaining element comprising a tension: member, a compression member, vertical post's connecting the tension-and compression, members, and diagonal-braces extending from the upper end of,one.post to the lower endfofan adjacent post,,said .members, posts and braces having flush interior surfaces.

2. A wall for ara lwaycarconsisting of'a one piece casting 'forminga load sustaining element; comprising atension. member, a com.-

having lateral flanges, a compression mem ber, verticallposts connecting the tension and compression members, and diagonal braces extending from the upper end of one.v post to the lower end of. an adj acent, post in [com-t bination with a flooring resting upon one of the flanges of the tension member.

4. A wall for a railway car consisting of a one piece casting forming a load sustaining element comprising a tension member, a compression member, vertical posts connecting the tension and compression members, and brackets extending below the tension members in alignment with the posts in combination with a cross bearer secured to said brackets. v i

5. A wall for a railway car consisting of a one piece casting forming a load sustaining element comprising a tension member havlng lateral flanges, a compression member, vertical posts connecting the tension and co1npression members having a smooth interior surface, brackets extending below the tension members in alignment with the posts incombination with a sheathing bearing against said surfaces and secured to certain said members, a flooring resting upon one of the flanges of the tension member, and a cross bearer secured to said brackets.

6. A wall for a railway car consisting of a one piece casting forming a load sustaining element comprising a tension member having lateral flanges, a compression'member having lateral flanges, vertical posts con necting the tension and compresslon members having asmooth interior surface and an outwardly projecting rib merging into flanges of the compression member and diagonal braces extending from the upper end of one post to the lower end of an adjacent post;

7. A wall for a railway car consisting of a one piece casting forming a load sustaining element comprising atension member having lateral flanges, a compression member having lateral flanges, vertical posts cone necting the tension and compression members prising an upper horizontal member, a lower horizontal member, vertlcal posts connecting said members, and a door opening adjacent the middle of the truss, the depth of said lower'member being increased below the door opening. r

11. A truss for the side wall of a railway box car consisting of an integral casting com: prising an upper horizontal member, a lower horizontal member vertical posts connecting said members, and adoor opening adjacent the middle of the truss, the depth of the upper member being increased above the door openhaving a smooth interior surface and an outwardly projecting rib nierging into flanges of the compresslon member, and diagonal braces extending from the upper end of one post to the lower end of an adjacent post, said braces having a smooth interior surface and an outwardly projecting rib merging into the ribs of adjacent posts.

8. In a wall for a railway car, a unitary casting comprising spaced apart substantlal- 1y horizontal U-shaped members and spaced apart substantially vertical U-shaped posts connecting said members.

9. In a wall for a railway car, a unitary casting comprising spaced apart substantially horizontal U-shaped members and spaced apart substantially vertical U-shaped posts connecting said members in combination with nailing strips secured within some of said posts, and sheathing secured to said nailing strips.

10. A truss for the side wall of a railway box car consisting of an integral casting com- 

